Cool Bricks

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Breakout makes a return on the Game Boy Color with a clone from SCI.

By IGN Staff

Look, we're not going to fool you into thinking that Cool Bricks is anything new. Breakout is a two-decade old game design, but companies have been building off the idea for years. Remember Arkanoid? Breakout. Natsume's Dragon Dance? Breakout. But Breakout is such a solid design it's hard NOT to try and one-up it with elements that you might think would help the game along. And that's what SCI's doing with Cool Bricks. It's Breakout plus a few new elements of its own.

Features

150 levels

High-color mode

Powerups and weapons

Only for Game Boy Color

Probably Cool Bricks' biggest draw is its use of the Game Boy Color's high-color mode. Through a special programming trick, the Game Boy Color can display more than 2000 colors on-screen instead of the usual less-than-50. The problem with using this mode is that animation must be kept to a minimum. Apparently the developers at Pukka Games worked its magic for SCi and gave the Cool Bricks game its own shot of color.

The idea is the same, though ¿ use the balls to take out the bricks. Make sure you slide the paddle back and forth across the bottom to knock the balls back into play. This game will definitely play and feel like Arkanoid ¿ power-up icons will come into play as you hit the bricks from the pile. You'll be able to pick up items like the Ninja, Poison, and Ghost Mode to make your life a little easier.

SCI plans on releasing Cool Bricks in June, but only in the UK for now. The company is currently shopping around its product to potential US publishers, so we may see a release of this game (and other SCI titles) later this year.